Singers Disc Problems

[SteveD]

I have trouble importing a song from a singer’s disc while another song is currently playing. As soon as Hoster starts reading the customer disc the currently playing song starts to slow down and warble.

This totally screws up the current song playing. I have just installed 3.303 and the problem is still there. Every time I have a customer come in with their own CDG's I cringe. I have to stop the show each and every time I import a song to the play list.

I replaced my Plextor 48/24/48A drive with a new Plextor PX712A and the problem disappeared for a couple of shows. Two weeks ago it showed up again and won't go away. I have been using this machine for over a year, with no other problems, this problem started showing up after installing Hoster 3.300. Most of my gigs customers don't bring CDG’s but lately I have 2 customers who bring their own discs every time they show up. None of these CDG’s are copies, they are all original CDG's that are in very good condition.

Computer Specs

19" Rack Mount PC
ASUS A8NSLI Deluxe Motherboard
Athlon 3 Gig 64 bit processor
1 Gigabyte Ram
1 250 Gb Western Digital Hard Drive
SoundBlaster Live 32 bit Dedicated Sound Card
Sapphire (ATI Radeon) X300 SE 128 Meg SLI Video Card w/TV Out

[MTUSUPPORT]

Steve,
We have tried and tried to reproduce this here at the office, and have been unable to. I will try again on some computers here at the office and see what happens.

How many songs have you played before it starts to do this? If you add one song to the playlist and start playing the song, then try to import a customers disc, will it do this?

I am trying to figure out if there is something that I am missing when trying to test this. I have added a bunch of songs, then started playing them, then added a song from a singers disc, while the others are playing and can't get it to mess up for me.

[ddouglass]

Bryan, check the site listed below for info. I think his problem lies with the sound card itself and the IRQ setup for it. There is a section on this page about stutter which may be relevant.

If you aren't running the same sound card you may not be able to duplicate his problem. Here is the site:

http://dmzweb3.europe.creative.com/S...ww_english_add

[SteveD]

I switched to the onboard sound card and the problem stopped. It is definitely a problem with the Sound Blaster Live 24 bit Sound Card. Either software settings or a driver problem.

I do want to resolve this issue though as the Sound Blaster 24 bit card has excellent sound quality for the price. It is far superior to the built in sound processor on my motherboard.

I couldn’t get the link that Dale Douglas had in his last post to open. Can you send me the full link text, or tell me how you found the page? Thanks,

[gduns - with the Lord]

Sound Blaster Live audio cards have problems with many different motherboards. upgrade to the new soundblaster and it will stay away.

[SteveD]

Which new soundblaster card are you talking about. This is a brand New Sound Blaster Live 24 Bit Card.

[admin]

Originally Posted by SteveD

I couldn’t get the link that Dale Douglas had in his last post to open. Can you send me the full link text, or tell me how you found the page? Thanks,

It's a very complex site to navigate, but I "think" this is the link text.

The Sound Blaster Live! card uses two Interrupt requests (IRQ's). One for the SB 16 emulation and one for the Sound Blaster Live! card itself.

IRQ 5, 7 or even 9 will usually be reserved for the SB 16 Emulation, whereas the Sound Blaster Live! will normally use IRQ 9, 10 or 11.

Occasionally this allocation may be reversed (for example when runnning Windows' 98 with motherboards based on the VIA MVP3 Chipset which may not have the appropriate IRQ Routing Miniport Driver), or both the Sound Blaster Live! card and its emulation may be allocated the same IRQ.

This can result in stuttering/repeating wave files, or cause the SB 16 Emulation to function incorrectly.

If you are experiencing either of these symptoms, we recommend you do the following:

Try the he Sound Blaster Live! in a different PCI slot.
Some BIOS's offer the option to change the IRQ priority for specific PCI slots. Please consult your motherboard manufacturer for details.
In the BIOS, under PNP/PCI Configuration set PNP Aware OS to No
Update the systems BIOS, and install the latest Chipset drivers for your system (specifically the IRQ Routing Miniport Driver when using older VIA Chipsets)
Disable IRQ steering in the Device Manager (System Devices - PCI Bus - IRQ Steering - un-tick Use IRQ Steering).
For diagnostic purposes, try lowering the hardware acceleration of the Sound Blaster Live! and your Graphics card .
To reduce audio hardware acceleration, click Start and select Run. Type dxdiag. The DirectX diagnostic tool will open. Click Sound and select Hardware Sound Acceleration Level. Set down 1 notch, then restart the system. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

To adjust the graphics hardware acceleration, right-click My Computer and click Properties. Go to Performance and click Graphics. Set down 1 notch, then restart the system. If necessary, repeat the procedure.

Check the IRQ allocation in Device Manager. Click Start and go to Settings. Click Control Panel and go to System. Click Device Manager, and double-click 'Computer' to view the resource allocation for all sytem devices.
In Device Manager, under Creative Miscellaneous Devices, right-click the SB 16 Emulation and click Properties.
Click Settings tab and tick the option to allow LPT Interrupt Sharing. This will allow the SB 16 Emulation to use the same interrupt (IRQ) as the Printer Port (Parallel Port, IRQ 7).
Win2000/XP

Windows 2000/XP do not support SB 16 Emulation, and as such, most of the above troubleshooting steps will not be applicable to these operating systems. However, as this problem is usually caused by resource problems or conflicts, we recommend you try the following:

Windows2000:

If your PC configuration is Uniprocessor ACPI PC or Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC, try changing this to Standard PC.


Both ACPI configurations can be somewhat problematic, as ACPI Uniprocessor PC uses so called Virtual IRQ's (IRQ's higher than 15) and Advanced Configuration and Power Interface PC tends to put all the PCI devices on the same IRQ (The operating system reshuffles the resource distribution). The latter may cause a problem for some Windows 2000 systems but is usually fine for Windows XP.

The PC configuration may be changed as follows:

1. Click Start and go to Settings. Click Control Panel and go to System. On the Hardwaretab, click Device Manager

2. Click the "+" sign next to 'Computer'

3. Double-click ACPI Uniprocessor PC/Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC

4. On the Driver tab click Update Driver

5. Select the option to display a list of known drivers for the device.

Tick 'Show all hardware for this device class'

From the list, select Standard PC

Relocating the Sound Blaster Live! to a different PCI slot or changing the IRQ priority of the slot are the only possible ways to enable the card use another IRQ.

Resources are allocated at BIOS level and cannot be changed within Windows.

Windows XP:

If your PC configuration is Uniprocessor ACPI PC, try changing this to Advanced configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC.

Both are ACPI configurations, however, ACPI Uniprocessor PC uses so called Virtual IRQ's (IRQ's higher than 15) which can prove problematic for the Sound Blaster Live! card.
The PC configuration may be changed as follows:

1. Click Start and go to Settings. Click Control Panel and go to System. On the Hardwaretab, click Device Manager

2. Click the "+" sign next to 'Computer'

3. Double-click ACPI Uniprocessor PC

4. On the Driver tab click Update Driver

5. Select the option to display a list of known drivers for the device.

6. Tick 'Show all hardware for this device class'

7. From the list, select Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC

Relocating the Sound Blaster Live! to a different PCI slot or changing the IRQ priority of the slot are the only possible ways to enable the card use another IRQ. Resources are allocated at BIOS level and cannot be changed within Windows.

[SteveD]

These instructions did fix the problem. Switching the Computer Driver to Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC did fix the problem.

I have a rack mount computer and taking it out and switching card slots would involve a lot of work. I figured that I might as well switch out cards if it were going to involve opening the PC.

Your fix saved me a lot of trouble. I turned the hardware accelleration of the sound card back up to the maximum setting and the stutter did not return.

Thanks Again for all of you who assisted in this! It is GREATLY appreciated

[djmadmaxx]

another happy customer.. awesome!!!!!!